Overtraining Part 2: Understanding Overtraining

Image courtesy of http://www.simplyshredded.com/overtraining.html

In Overtraining Part 1: The Intended Adaptation & Intro to Overtraining, I discussed the concept of aligning your goals with the adaptations you are training for, as well as some of the signs and symptoms of overtraining. In this section, I will dive deeper into the idea of overtraining, including stress and the systems of the body it affects.

Image courtesy of http://www.simplyshredded.com/overtraining.html

Today’s world has far more stressors than that of our biological ancestors, the Paleolithic homosapien. In other words, the average caveman’s life was nowhere near as stressful as a typical American’s. To better understand what I mean, take a look at the list below:

Types of Negative Stress

1. Physical Stress - too much exercise, extended periods of sitting, improper footwear
2. Chemical Stress - tap water, plastic containers, glues and materials in houses/cars, non-organic foods
3. Electromagnetic Stress - over-exposure to sunlight, electronic devices
4. Mental Stress - negative thoughts, problems/deadlines at work, trying to remember too much
5. Nutritional Stress - eating foods that you have allergies or sensitivities to or eating in ways that does not fit your metabolic type
6. Thermal Stress - being in extreme heat or extreme cold for extended periods
7. Emotional Stress - problems with relationships, worrying about decisions

Image courtesy of http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/wellness/stress

Incredibly, all types of stress affect the body the same way. What this means is: the more stressors you have in your life, the less physical exercise you will be able to recover from. If you have a significant amount of stress, in any of these possible forms, it will take less physical stress (i.e. exercise) for you to overtrain than if you did not have as much stress in other areas of your life. By reducing the amount of stressors in other areas of your life, you will be able to recover from more intense training and, therefore, achieve better results (once again, given your intended adaptations are actually what you are training for).

Image courtesy of http://www.stress.org/

As stated in Part 1, “Overtraining is essentially training beyond one’s means to recover”. When there is too much stress placed on the body, systems begin to break down.

These systems include:

1. Cardiovascular system
2. Skeletal system
3. Muscular system
4. Neurological system
5. Endocrine system
6. Digestive system
7. Immune system
8. Lymphatic system
9. Respiratory system

Generally, the one that will break down is the weakest link in the chain. If you pay attention, you will often notice when it is signaling there is too much stress in your life. For me personally, I generally get headaches and occasionally lower back pain when I have too much stress. Think about which system seems to give you problems when you are stressed out.

In Overtraining Part 3: Physical Stress, I will take a look at what specifically physical stress does to the body to cause overtraining. Be sure to check it out!

Tony Cates is a busi­ness man­age­ment major at Edge­wood Col­lege in Madi­son, WI.  He is a cer­ti­fied per­sonal trainer, per­for­mance enhance­ment spe­cial­ist, and the S&C Coach for Edge­wood Col­lege Men’s Bas­ket­ball.  He can be reached at catestony@gmail.com or (608) 852-7433.

This arti­cle may be repro­duced with bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion intact.